STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — No one is suggesting that theatergoers abandon Manhattan stages, but look at it this way: If you have theater-and-music options close to home — as we do hereabouts — all you really need alongside them is the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s spring season, which starts Saturday.

It’s close, and the prices are unbeatable. Seats that would run $150 in a commercial setting are $35 at BAM.

But what’s this about “spring?” No matter how you think about it, spring is a long, dark, cold 10 weeks away.

Launching “spring” the week after New Year;s Day is a little joke that BAM tries to put over every January. (After the Christmas blizzard, don’t we wish spring was so close.)

“Borkman,” is not so well known as “Ghosts,” or “Hedda Gabler,” Ibsen’s big hits, but the topic should be familiar. It’s greed. Think: Bernie Madoff.

Almost everyone involved has history at BAM: Rickman, (who, plays Snape in the Harry Potter franchise) directed “Creditors” a Tony nominee last season in Brooklyn. In 2002, the Abbey Theater that presented “Medea” at BAM with Fiona Shaw in the title role. It enjoyed such acclaim, it moved to Broadway.

Show no. 2, Nikolai Gogol’s “Diary of a Madmen,” a production of the Belvoir Theater of Australia, opens Feb. 11. Neil Armfeld is directing. Geoffrey Rush is starring.

Again, there’s history here. Belvoir brought the unforgettable Aussie saga “Cloudstreet” to BAM in 2001. Also, New York theatergoers are fond of Rush, who won the 2009 best-actor Tony for “Exit the King.”

The third offering is an opera, Stravinsky’s “The Nightingale and Other Short Fables” directed by one of the most closely watched performing arts figures in the city at the moment, Robert Lepage, mastermind of the new “Ring,” at Metropolitan Opera.

Lepage has also been a regular at BAM. He returns in March (1 to 6) with his ExMachina Company presenting “The Nightingale and Other Short Fables” It comes recommended. The Toronto run was sold out and tumultuous ovations reportedlyconcluded performances at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence).

Shakespeare Trifecta

Shakespeare is always part of spring at BAM, which rivals the mighty NY Shakespeare Festival for the amount and quality of its Shakespeare) but this spring is unusual.

First, there’s “The Comedy of Errors” (March 16-27), in a traditional all-male production by the Propeller Co., another regular at BAM.

Back in Shakespeare’s time, boys and young males played female roles. The theater was thought to be way too raucous and irregular for women. Theatergoers who have never seen an all-male Shakespeare comedy are in for a great surprise. When skilled actors are involved, gender becomes a non-issue in about five minutes.

“Macbeth” is next (April 5-16) performed by another regular visitor, the Cheek by Jowl company. Declan Donellen is directing Will Keen “Foyle’s War” and Anastasia Hille as the titular Lord and his Lady, “two halves of a single, indissoluble psychic entity.”

(The previous imported “Macbeth” at BAM, starred Patrick Stewart as the bloody-handed Scotsman in 2008) Cheek by Jowl brought “As You Like It” to BAM in 1994; also, “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Othello” and “Cymbeline in 2007.

“King Lear, “ done at BAM in 2007 with Sir Ian McKellan in the title role, returns in a new production April 28 (through June 5) with another great English actor, Sir Derek Jacobi. Donmar Warehouse is producing with Michael Grandage directing.

Two dance concerts conclude the season. There’s DanceAfrica, the traditional Memorial Day presentation (May 27-30) and“La Magia de la Danza” a rare visit by the Ballet Nacional de Cuba June 8 to 11.

Talking book

Finally, for people who are bookish and sociable, “Eat, Drink & Be Literary” presents illustrious contempmorary authors in a drinks/dinner/talk context, on selected Thursdays, at the BAM café. The series is a collaboration with the National Book Awards.